In certain types of business establishments, such as banks, having a number of customer service stations, all available to customers and performing essentially the same service functions, problems of excessive customer waiting time and lobby congestion are common.
Servicing of a large number of customers with this type of arrangement inevitably involves the use of lines or "queues". For purposes of the present description, a queue may be defined as a waiting line controlled by some service mechanism. An item is an element of the queue. An item enters the queue at the "tail" of the queue. The item waits in line until it arrives at the "head" of the queue. The item is then serviced at the first available "service facility" and leaves the queue at the time of movement to said service facility. The reference to the "head" and "tail" of a queue implies that items entering or leaving must follow a definite ordering scheme as members of a queue. This is the dispatching discipline of the queue. A queue can have only two operations performed upon items: the insertion of an item into the queue at the tail of the queue, and the deletion of an item at the head of the queue. In the present description, the single-queue multiple-server type of queue employs a first-in, first-out dispatching discipline.
Switching from queues at each serving station to one single line for all customers is one step that can cut down on lobby congestion, offer more customer privacy, and equalize waiting time. However, rope and post mazes create new problems. They tend to decrease the speed at which traffic moves. Experiments show that the customer at the front of the line often needs prompting in locating a free server.
As indicated above, the objectives sought to be obtained by use of a single-line multiple-server queue are fairness, privacy and increased service to all customers. However the operator's productivity depends upon three factors, including the operator's free time between transactions; the attentiveness of the customer at the head of the queue; and the distance between the head of the queue and the service facility (travel time). Several types of single line lobby traffic control methods are currently being used.
The first of these methods may be described as a human directed method. This is probably the method used most extensively in commercial banks, savings associations, airport ticket offices, and so on. A free operator watches the waiting line for customers and manually, or by voice, signals the head of the queue to proceed to the open station. In larger installations, security guards and floor walkers may be employed to direct the customer at the head of the queue to available stations.
A second type of control of lobby traffic is an electronic traffic control system, and several "customer alert indicators" are available for use in such a system. In one type of system, a teller-activated device is employed, with tellers or service station operators pressing keys to indicate that they are free for the next customer. A glass panel then displays an arrow showing the customers at the head of the waiting line the direction in which to move to find the available teller. The display is usually placed midway between service station in front of the queue. Panels display "wait for next available teller" messages if no key is depressed by the service station operator. Refinements of this system may include a chime to catch the attention of the customer at the head of the queue, operator numbers in indicators, and lights placed adjacent to operator stations which can be illuminated to indicate the availability of that station.
Another type of system employs a customer-activated unit. These indicators are not dependent upon buttons operated by service station operators. Instead, devices are activated by customers stepping away from operator stations. Systems employing either wires or wireless systems may be utilized. Wireless systems use shortwave transmitters and receivers instead of being wired between signal means and the front panel. Mats at the head of the line and/or at each teller station are used to detect the presence of customers. Other types of systems may employ light-sensitive or radio wave devices for customer detection.
Systems such as those described above have been found to present certain problems which interfere with optimum operation. Banks and other users of these systems find that customers at the front of the waiting line often need prompting to help find a free service station operator. Bandit barriers in banks often obstruct sound and produce glare, compounding a customer's difficulties in recognizing teller numbers and/or arrows displayed on glass panels of present electronic systems or in finding a free teller in human directed methods.
Arrows and numbers displayed on illuminated glass panels and a variety of flashing beacons located throughout the lobby of an establishment such as a bank often do not blend with the decor of the interior.
Furthermore, most of these systems are under the control of the operator of a service station and these operators may hold back on calling for new customers in order to finish their own work, thereby slowing lobby traffic. Expensive systems, activated by more sophisticated devices, address this problem by incorporating customer presence at each service station. This added complexity, however, creates logistical problems.